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BARTON: E&C ENCOURAGING ON KIDS' ONLINE PRIVACY BILL, BUT MARKEY BID COMPLICATES — House Republican Joe Barton has long teamed up with Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey on privacy issues, and the pair has said they’re bringing back their Do Not Track Kids Act. But Markey is currently locked in a primary battle for the Democratic nomination for his state’s open Senate seat, and that’s delayed the pair’s 2013 action on the issue, Barton admitted to MT. “We’re working on some changes. What’s happening is with him running for the Senate, it’s kind of slowed down our timeline on this,” Barton said, adding the pair’s look at the data brokerage industry has taken a hit as well.

But there’s good news for privacy advocates, the Texas lawmaker said. “The Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman [Fred] Upton and the senior staff are much more interested. We don’t have a green light but we have a little more encouragement at the committee level,” he told your MT-er. “The stakeholder community has been doing a good job of educating and communicating, the members are getting more comfortable with the issue and we’ve agreed in principle — at least in concept — to make some changes that help some,” he added, without detailing what those amendments might be.

Markey’s office, for its part, tells us that they’re building support for the measure and dotting I’s and crossing T’s in the wake of the FTC’s updated COPPA rule. They’ll unveil the bill “when it has the maximum potential for success,” a spokesman said.

WHAT WILL THE NEW ZUCKERBERG GROUP DO? — It may be too early to know what the plans are for the new issues advocacy group being created by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and others. But tech insiders are chattering about the high-profile group, which is going to push for a range of issues including comprehensive immigration reform, Michelle Quinn and Anna Palmer reported this weekend: http://politi.co/ZInzwA

Some of the questions: Is this organization a new long-term group or a coalition that will come together for just the next year or two? Will execs go to the Hill, visit members’ districts or do media to help move key pieces of legislation? And how does the birth of this group reshape the existing landscape of tech industry organizations such as TechNet, the Information Technology Industry Council and relative-newcomer the Internet Association. Needless to say, we’re tracking.

TODAY: ROCKEFELLER HOLDS ROUNDTABLE ON VIOLENT MEDIA — Congress kicks off its two-week recess today, and plenty of lawmakers will be out of the District — but that doesn’t mean they’re off the clock. The Senate Commerce Committee leader is in Martinsburg, W.Va., this afternoon for a roundtable examining how video games and other types of media violence affect teenagers. It’s the first public event he’s holding since the December shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., which prompted legislation he introduced that month that would provide for a study of the connection between violent media and harmful effects on kids.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re slowly coming back to the real world after escaping to Minneapolis this weekend for a wedding. MT, when it really comes down to it, is basically a marriage of must-read news and sharp wit (and good looks) — but as always, let us know if you’d like to propose a new idea — just pop us a question or comment over at abyers@politico.com and @byersalex. Catch the rest of the crew’s contact info below today’s Speed Read and don’t forget to follow Pro on Twitter @POLITICOPro.

DEFAZIO: ‘HUGE AND GROWING COALITION’ ON SHIELD ACT — The Oregon-based co-sponsor of the legislation, which would require losers in patent lawsuits to foot the legal bill, is touting a wave of support for his measure with Rep. Jason Chaffetz. “The pressure’s coming from outside,” DeFazio told MT. “We’ve now got the realtors, we got insurance, we got pharmaceuticals, we got airlines, we got online retailers. This is in addition to obviously the software and hardware people.” And what about the American Trial Lawyers Association, who, as DeFazio pointed out earlier this month, could still have concerns? “They say they object in principle,” the Oregon lawmaker said, “because it opens the door to using the ‘loser pays’ elsewhere where they don’t think it would be proper, but they don’t defend the nonpracticing entities and patent trolls. I would say they are not as vociferously against this version of the bill as opposed to the one we had last year.” As far as drumming up Senate support, DeFazio said it’s what he’s doing in his spare time. He said he had one recent conversation with an upper-chamber lawmaker who pointed to additional senators that might be interested in dropping a companion bill, but he wouldn’t share any names.

SENATE APPROVES ONLINE SALES TAX AMENDMENT AS PART OF MARATHON BUDGET SESSION — Lawmakers took time out of their Friday night ‘vote-a-rama’ to debate a Marketplace Fairness Act-representing amendment to the upper chamber’s budget resolution, talking aggressively for the better part of an hour about the proposal to give states the ability to collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers. The battle lines weren’t partisan in nature — MFA co-sponsor and Majority Whip Dick Durbin was pitted against fellow Democrat Ron Wyden, and proponent Mike Enzi debated GOP compatriot Kelly Ayotte — but the debate still got relatively heated. In the end, though, supporters of the measure won out, with three-quarters of senators voting for an Enzi amendment to clean up the language and approval of the final attachment to the budget resolution coming on a voice vote. The vote — symbolic as it was, considering that the resolution doesn’t have the force of law — wasn’t the only tech-oriented amendment to get some play Friday: One from Sens. Al Franken and Deb Fischer to increase access to rural broadband passed on a voice vote, and a proposal from Sen. David Vitter to end the FCC’s Lifeline program failed on a 46-53 roll call vote.

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DEMOCRATS SALUTE GENACHOWSKI ERA — The now-officially outgoing FCC chairman got varying grades Friday when he announced he’d leave the commission in the coming weeks, but he won rave reviews from at least one group: Hill Democrats. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for example, touted Genachowski’s work to “make sure every American has access to the critical technology they need to succeed in the 21st century.” House telecom subpanel ranking member Anna Eshoo said the tech official broke ground at the FCC and pointed to the future availability of more unlicensed spectrum as reason for celebrating. And House Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman even called Genachowski a “brilliant” chairman and said he “transformed and energized the agency,” protecting access to a free Internet.

GENACHOWSKI DEPARTURE COULD SPELL TROUBLE FOR MURDOCH — News Corp. leader Rupert Murdoch has his eye on the Los Angeles Times, but FCC rules stand to slow him down. And with the commission chairman on his way out, he may be waiting a bit longer, The New York Times reports: “The resignation of Mr. Genachowski, a Democrat, could further stall a plan favored by the departing chairman that would relax a longtime ban on consolidation between television stations and newspapers in local markets. The FCC signaled on Friday that a vote on easing media ownership rules would move forward despite Mr. Genachowski’s departure. ... Initially expected to be presented for a vote early this year, the measure has already faced several setbacks. Last month, Mr. Genachowski said there would be no vote until the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, a Washington-based nonprofit, completed a study of the impact of cross-ownership on news gathering. That process could take several weeks, potentially pushing a vote to the summer.” More: http://nyti.ms/14i2YUb

FOR YOUR CALENDARS: SENATE COMMERCE PLANS RURAL COMMUNICATIONS HEARING — Congress isn’t back for two weeks, but the April 9 hearing is sure to be a key event for tech-watchers when lawmakers return. The meeting will examine the strengths and challenges of the rural communications market, and look at the hurdles facing companies that serve rural consumers. The hearing, hosted by the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, is new Chairman Mark Pryor’s first with the gavel in hand. (Pryor told a group of advertisers last week that he’s getting ready to hold a handful of “state of” hearings, and this is sure to be part of that slate.) Even so, the topic also falls in line with full committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller’s tech priorities this year.

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